Cherry Blossoms
by Ashplosion
Summary: When Minako's concert in LA hits a snag, she calls in a favor owed to her...but has to wonder about the lyrics to her opening act's closing song. Reinako fluff!
1. AINO MINAKO SPECIAL SURPRISE!

Rei shook like a leaf; Artemis placed a reassuring paw on her shoulder. "You'll be great, Mars! Minako has all the faith in the world in you."

"Then why is she making me do this?"

"Ah, well…" the cat ducked his head. "You see, Minako is still a bit angry about you landing in the hospital."

"That was over two years ag-" Rei's eyes flashed, but she was cut off from speaking at a sudden cacophony on the other side of the curtain. Minako had just walked onto stage and stood in the center with a smirk.

"Good evening, Los Angeles!" Rei watched the other girl as she grinned and nodded. Naturally, the idol lifted her hand and coaxed more cheering from the audience, only prolonging Rei's fit of nerves. Of course, the miko knew exactly what her girlfriend was doing, and she knew her girlfriend knew it, too.

Minako smiled at the audience. "I'm sorry to tell you all that tonight, Komatsu Ayaka will not be my opening act. Aya-chan was unable to make it tonight. Instead, our opening act is someone so near and dear to me that I felt it necessary to introduce her to you myself, instead of letting my manager do it. LA, are you ready to meet her?"

Artemis placed the other paw on Rei's shoulder as the cheering began again.

"Then I will see you in an hour if you'll please do me the honor of welcoming the one girl my manager wishes HAD idol aspirations, my very best friend and one of the most amazing people to ever set foot on the earth… Mars Reiko!" Rei took a deep breath and took off in a light jog, gratefully accepting a hug for courage from the idol. With that, the opening strains of a guitar sounded, and Minako trotted the rest of the way backstage.

"Do you think she's mad, Artemis?"

"Mad? No. Frightened, definitely." Minako chuckled.

"It's good for her."

"Minako, I'm glad to see you so happy with someone, but must your torture your girlfriend?"

The idol smirked. "I gave her two years to rehearse this. I told her I was going to collect on this debt one day. It's not my fault she didn't believe me. I did give her a few things to make it special, though."

Artemis laughed; he'd seen the set list, though it had (mostly) been concealed from Rei. She wasn't sure what "AINO MINAKO SUPER SPECIAL SURPRISE!" had meant right before her closer, or what the katakana "DROP BANG BOOM" meant next to her closing song. "You think she has no idea what hijinks you have planned?"

"Nope," the idol said with a grin, not removing her eyes from her girlfriend. Rei was clearly much less experienced than she was, but Minako knew the lyrics were sincere. The two had written them, after all. The only song on the set list that hadn't been either penned entirely by Rei or a collaboration between the two was the mysterious "AINO MINAKO SUPER SPECIAL SURPRISE!" Minako made a mental note to ask Rei about the lyrics for her closing song, especially with what she was planning for the miko in the "DROP BANG BOOM" note. As the music wound down, Rei glanced to the side of the stage where Minako was standing. The idol picked up and switched on her own microphone.

"So, LA, let me let you in on a practical joke. Mars Reiko-chan has no idea what the next song on her setlist is, because I made up her set list. It just says AINO MINAKO SUPER SPECIAL SURPRISE." By now, Minako was on stage, poking Rei's arm. "Reiko-chan, your AINO MINAKO SUPER SPECIAL SURPRISE is…" The audience seemed to be collectively holding its breath as Minako's grin widened. "A song from me to you. Everyone, today is Reiko-chan's birthday!"

Artemis fell off the chair he'd been standing on. Originally, Minako had said something about sneaking in a duet of one of her more popular songs, "Romance," to keep Rei going for the last song. The _entire_ audience began to sing happy birthday to Rei as she shot a death glare at Minako. The miko turned really red, though, when Minako disappeared for a moment and reappeared with a cake…which despite the idol's best efforts, Rei managed to turn the tables on the next prank. Minako attempted to shove her girlfriend's face in the cake; instead, Minako's face wound up in the cake, causing the audience to laugh harder.

Eventually, the cake had been cleared away, Minako was backstage wiping cake off her face and getting ready for Rei's surprise, and the arena had gone dark. The opening bars of the one song Rei had actually recorded, "_Sakura Fubuki_," began playing, and the miko inhaled deeply. As she began singing, Rei kept cutting sideways glances at her delighted girlfriend.

"You love her, eh?" Minako looked to Artemis and smiled.

"She's amazing."

"How much of the past life to you remember?" Rei's voice came through more strongly than it ever had in the background as Minako considered her guardian's question.

"Not enough, especially of Mars. I mostly remember how I felt when she was dying. I died before she did. I guess some things never change." Minako glanced back at her girlfriend wistfully.

"That's it?" Minako swore she could hear the frown in his voice.

"That's… not it, but that's all you'll want to know what I remember," Minako retorted with an impish grin. If plush cats could blush, she was sure he would be. "I remember something very deep and special between us. I don't know what she remembers. Ready for Rei's surprise?"

As Rei moved to the bridge and last couple of choruses, Minako tugged a rope backstage, releasing cherry blossoms to flutter in the air, all over the audience and her girlfriend. The audience let out a delighted roar of surprise. For the first time during a song, Rei was wearing a genuine smile as the final chords to the song reverberated and she caught some of the last flutters of the blossoms in her outstretched hand.

"Looks like my rival is back," Minako mused, listening to the audience. As he walked up behind her, her manager laughed heartily and agreed.

"I still wish that girl had idol aspirations!"

**Author's notes:** Obviously PGSM-verse. Does anyone remember the name of the male idol that Usagi worked for briefly? And I kinda like what I did with the name for Minako's actress. ;)


	2. Cherry Blossoms, Blowing Like Snow

"What do the lyrics mean, Reiko?" The miko lifted her head from her girlfriend's chest and looked blankly at the idol.

"What lyrics?"

"_Sakura Fubuki_. You wrote them. We just put it to music."

"You told me to write it!" Minako chuckled.

"I didn't tell you what to write, other than write something personal, from the heart." The idol kissed her girlfriend's head and wrapped an arm more snugly around her shoulders as they continued staring at, but not really watching, the TV. Rei frowned.

"I was remembering you. My memories of the past life are still kind of muddy, but I remember-" She stopped abruptly with a blush. Minako trained her eyes on her girlfriend's, despite Rei not looking at her.

"You remember what?"

"I remember Mars and Venus being very much in love. My first memories to come back were of you. We- We died," the miko choked out. "That was the first really clear one. I remember holding you after you died. And then when you said what you said that day in the hospital… I-" The miko blinked suddenly, clearly trying to suppress tears.

"You felt it again."

"I remembered more. The… the things we did." A guarded look covered Rei's eyes as Minako brushed her fingers through the other girl's hair.

"What kind of things, Reiko?" Rei shifted uncomfortably and looked at her girlfriend.

"I remember the first time we…" Minako laughed; Rei couldn't even get the words out without blushing.

"Made love," Minako finished for the flustered girl on top of her. Rei nodded.

"The first memory actually came to me in front of the fire. I felt horrible, like I'd desecrated the sacredness of that place." Minako's fingernails played lightly over the other girl's shoulders while she waited on the miko to continue. "It was hazy. I didn't know what to think. I sat there for a while, just kind of staring and watching us laugh and kiss, and then things got more heated. I- I got up and left. I quit meditating for a week after that."

"There's nothing that isn't sacred about love, Love." Rei nodded slowly.

"I know that now, Mina. Back then, I thought I'd caught myself fantasizing about you. I wasn't a fan, but I did think you were attractive, you know."

"And of course, teenage hormones…"

"I never thought about my hormones until you came along!" Rei's smile gave her away; the anger wasn't really there. "I dreamed about it later that night. I still can't remember everything, but the more I was around you, the more I remembered."

"That's why you kept seeking me out," Minako offered. Rei nodded slowly, then shook her head.

"I kept seeking you out for two reasons. The first one, I thought you were the princess. The mission mattered. The second one, my heart kept telling me to. I didn't want to fall in love with you, Mina. Something about falling for the princess, especially when I was the leader of her guardians, felt wrong." Minako caught the girl's eyes again.

"Not the fact that you're falling for a woman, just the woman you're falling for?"

"You were the Christian, Minako. Shinto doesn't say one thing or the other on our love." Rei's eyes narrowed for a moment before she leaned up and kissed her lover. Minako huffed, but gratefully accepted the kiss.

"So let me get this straight. Your first memory was Mars and Venus making love for the first time?" Rei nodded. "You first clear memory was Venus dying in Mars' arms." Rei nodded again. "You felt wrong about falling in love with me because you thought I was the princess, not because I'm a woman."

"That's right," Rei said carefully.

"Three things, Reiko. The first… my first memory was Mars and Venus as well. The moment Venus realized she was in love with Mars, actually. The second, don't you think that being in love with that one you're supposed to protect would've made you a _better_ guardian?" Rei laughed and shrugged; Minako tightened her embrace on the smaller woman. "The final thing is this. Did you ever stop to wonder why I wanted to awaken your power and memory before the others?"

"Wonder, yes. Figure it out, no."

"I wanted you to remember the relationship Venus and Mars had."

"I didn't. I tried like hell to repress the memories." Minako nodded thoughtfully.

"I guess I have one more statement to make."

"What?"

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I'm pretty sure I just answered a slew of questions, Mina."

"The lyrics. What do they mean? You just said you were remembering. You didn't directly connect anything else we've discussed to the lyrics."

"Oh." Rei frowned. "There is one line in particular." Rei closed her eyes, and Minako waited. "There's no such thing as God, but I want to believe in someone," the miko sang softly. "I wanted to believe in you, but I was terrified of it. The lyrics talk about a back and forth between my emotions."

"And you wrote that, knowing my composers would set it to music, and I would see it and hear it?"

"I was hoping for answers, Minako."

"Answers," Minako mused. "I did answer you, I think. I just never realized it before."

"Minako?"

"Romance. Think about the lyrics." Rei frowned for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"I wonder what other ways we've spoken to one another without realizing it."

"I can think of a few ways to speak to you without speaking," Minako said with a wink. Rei blushed deeply, but grinned.

"Do tell, Minako," she whispered as the idol stood and led her to the bedroom. "Do tell."


End file.
